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Burrows: 'They're not going to quit easily'

by
Dan Rosen

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Alex Burrows believes the hockey gods had something to do with Vancouver's 4-2 win Sunday afternoon.

In Burrows' mind, there was really no other way to explain how his team could first kill off five straight San Jose power plays and then get gifted three straight 5-on-3s, including two that resulted from a too many men on the ice penalty and a delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass.

The Canucks scored on all three of those 5-on-3s, setting an NHL playoff record for most 5-on-3 goals in a single game. After blowing two 5-on-3 chances in Game 3 and losing, they were perfect on three shots Sunday and it was the difference in them pulling within one win of going to their first Stanley Cup Final since 1994.

Burrows, who was on the ice for all of the goals, including his own in the third period, talked about it all following the game. Here's what he had to say:

Q: When you are able to kill not one or two, but five straight power plays, do you have the feeling that you're then going to get some back?

Burrows: That's the thing, it's not that the refs are going to make the call but I think it's just the law of averages. I thought after maybe the third one we would maybe get the next call. Then after the fourth one I thought we'd get the next call. And, then we didn't, so it went to five. It was like, 'OK, we're killing and we're doing good things out there, but we have to keep pushing the pace.' When we did I think that's the hockey gods. They got a penalty and we went on the power play, and then we were able to get three 5-on-3s. I think it was the hockey gods a little bit there with the too many men and the puck over the glass. Those are tough ones for them.

Q: What was it like to have penalty after penalty after penalty again today just like you did last game?

Burrows: We talked about it coming into this game that we wanted to stay out of the box, but at the same time we also talked about how we were going to deal with it. We knew we were going to take some penalties and we just had to deal with it, kill it and go out there and keep pushing the pace. I think our mindset was really good. We knew we could get the job done and I think we really battled harder on the PK, we were more committed at blocking shots and battling hard for those loose pucks along the boards.

Q: Would the old Canucks have been more upset after one period?

Burrows: Yeah, for sure. I think we stayed off the refs better, too, today. We let them ref their game and we didn't get after them at all. We kept thinking about our next shift, kept focusing on what we had to do when we were on the ice. That's what we need to do to be successful.

Q: Have you ever seen a pass go through the goalie's pads like that?

A: I didn't even see that one and it went in so that tells you how good of a pass it was. I lost sight of it. Good thing my stick was on the ice and it was just able to go off my blade and into the net. Obviously that's the kind of player Henrik is. He's able to make those quality passes all over the ice and he has a great awareness of where everybody is. He is able to give it to you backhand, forehand, saucer, through legs -- everything."

Q: Are you sure it was a pass?

Burrows: Yes, I'm pretty sure it was. If he would have shot it he would have shot it. That was a pass for sure.

Q: Are you able to put what one more wins means to this team heading into the next game aside?

Burrows: I think everybody realizes that but at the same time we're not looking that far ahead. We know they're going to have a same push. They're not going to quit because they're down 3-1. Obviously there are a lot of leaders over there that can compete and they're not going to quit easily. We have to make sure we refocus and energize ourselves to get ready for the game on Tuesday.

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